We're All Mad Here
by nikkiRA
Summary: Oneshot, FinnickAnnie/ fifty themes surrounding Finnick and Annie's relationship. Rated T for some minor sexual content.


**Random little thing. These are TECHNICALLY supposed to be sentences, but I totally disregarded that. These prompts are from 1sentence from LJ, and they have five tables if you wanna do some of your own. I'm gonna be writing more on these two, because they're my absolute favourite, well, other than Haymitch. Plus there's so much of their relationship I didn't get a chance to touch on in this. Anyway, long random useless babble over. **

**Also, the title of this is taken from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll. **

* * *

**one, motion**

He'll never tire of watching her swim. She's completely fluid, completely flawless, as if she had lived her whole life in the water. Almost everyone in District 4 can swim, but no one can swim quite like Annie.

**two, cool**

The first time he meets her, he's drying off his hair with a towel he found on the beach. He knows he shouldn't have taken someone's towel, but he was nine and wet. _Who are you? _She asked angrily. He had grinned. _I'm Finnick Odair. _He was proud of his name- he thought it was pretty cool, and he thought she would, too. Instead she scowled fiercely, a scowl he would learn to become afraid of. _Well, Finnick Odair, give me my towel back or I'll strangle you with it. _

**three, young**

_What if your name is called? _Her green eyes stare up at him worried and she looks impossibly young, much younger than ten. He puts on a strong face for her sake. _I won't. Promise. It'll be okay._

**four, last**

He's certain he must be going mad. How many of them are left? How many were there at the beginning? How many are dead, and how many are dead at his hand? Which way is up? And then suddenly a voice. A voice from what he assumes must be up. It takes him a while to process the words. He's the last one standing. He won, even if it doesn't feel like it.

**five, wrong**

_They're wrong. And idiotic. I don't like them. _Immediately he clamps a hand over her mouth. He agrees with her, of course, but the Capitol has eyes, and ears, everywhere. _Shh, _he urges her. _Don't speak like that in public!_

**six, gentle**

_What's happening? _Her eyes are wild, flicking everywhere. _Who are you? _His heart breaks, but he reaches out his hands slowly until he is holding her so gently he's not even sure she notices. _It's alright Annie. It's me. _

**seven, one**

The ironic thing about his life (which is also the cruellest part, too) is that he only realizes that Annie Cresta is the one for him when she doesn't even know who he is.

**eight, thousand**

When he goes to see her after her name is called, when he holds her and kisses her and tries to keep her forever, she is already distancing herself from him. Even as he begs her to stay alive, she is a thousand miles away from him.

**nine, king**

_I'm the King of the World! _Ten year old Finnick shouts from the top of crate. As usual, Annie drags him down off his pedestal. _If you're King of the World, I think I'll run away. _

**ten, learn**

_How come everyone just accepts them? Why don't we stop them? _She asks angrily. He's taught her to lower her voice and only voice her opinions to him, but that doesn't stop her from hating the Capitol. _You'll learn, Annie. It's the only way to survive. _

**eleven, blur**

It happens so quickly it almost seems surreal, but the girl from District 6 erupts out of the woods and beheads Annie's partner so quickly that later he'll reflect on her strength. But then in a blur of colour and motion Annie has stabbed her, and he almost starts to breathe easily again before she starts to scream.

**twelve, wait**

This was the worst part. He tries to think back to when he was waiting to see if _his _name would be called, but he doesn't think that was anywhere close to how it feels to this. _And the girl tribute is... Halie Varne! _

**thirteen, change**

Haymitch is laying out the plan for him but he doesn't need to hear it. He knows what he has to do, and he knows he has to do it. Solemnly, he reflects that he will probably never see Annie again, but things need to change, and he knows that if she were sane enough, she would agree. She's always known it.

**fourteen, command**

_Put it down! _He freezes, dropping the item. Caught red handed. _Finnick Odair! _Her voice is terrifying, gluing him to the spot despite every instinct telling him to run. _Are you trying to open your birthday present?_

**fifteen, hold**

_You... you can't, go..._ She isn't crying. She actually appears rather calm. Calmer than him, anyway. But he's Finnick Odair, and he doesn't cry. Not anymore. _You have to stay with me. You have to. _His heart is breaking and he throws caution to the wind, pulling her in close to him, knowing full well she might get scared and try to stab him. Lord knows it's happened before. _It'll be okay, Annie, _he says, knowing it will be the last time he will ever hold her. _I'll be back for you. I'll always come back for you._

**sixteen, need**

_You need to bring her to me. They'll kill her. _He yells at Plutarch and Haymitch, hoping that the louder he can make his voice, the more they'll see how necessary it is to save her. _Please. I need her. You need to protect her. I need to protect her._

**seventeen, vision**

He can't see. At all. Everything is black. Has he blacked out? No. That's not it. He just can't open his eyes. He doesn't want to. He can't face the world. _And the girl tribute is... Annie Cresta!_

**eighteen, attention**

_Finnick! Are you paying attention to me? _You couldn't blame him. All around him, beautiful girls were staring at him. Winking at him. Promising him things he's never even heard of. You can't blame him for zoning out. _Fine, Finnick, gawk all you want, I'll be leaving. _Well, Annie can.

**nineteen, soul**

_They're coming for me. They're going to kill me. _Her voice is different. Quieter. Scared. Annie has never been quiet or scared in her life. As he tries to coax the knife from her hand- _Annie, they can't get you here, you're safe- _he knows without a doubt that there were no survivors in this year's Hunger Games.

**twenty, picture**

He doesn't want to watch. He wants to keep the picture of her in his head how she was the last day- strong. Confident. Ready to face the world. Ready to survive. But he watches. And slowly, that picture morphs until when he closes his eyes, the Annie he sees is covered in blood, staring in horror at her partner's headless body, tearless sobs wracking her tiny body.

**twenty one, fool**

He was an idiot- a fool. No one ever survived these games. He was going to die. Of course he was. They were all there, all twenty three of them, with gleaming tridents and glowing smirks, smiling at him, pointing at his heart, reading to kill him. He screams, trying to get away, but he can't move. He's going to die and he can't move, no, no, no, _Finnick! Finnick, stop! Shh, Finnick. It was just a nightmare. You're safe. I'm here._

**twenty two, mad**

Katniss looks at him differently after the Jabberjay incident and he knows her lover boy must have told her. He tries to resent her for it, but he can't, because often times it's what he's thinking himself. _Poor Finnick. He could have any girl in the Capitol, but he's pining after a crazy girl. _

**twenty three, child**

In the middle of a fight, she shouts, _if we ever children, I pray they don't take after you. _He suddenly stops, his previous argument forgotten, and manages to spit out, suddenly terrified- _are you trying to tell me something? _Their fight dissolves as she starts to laugh, assuring him it was simply hypothetical.

**twenty four, now**

The lady with the purple skin pushes herself against him. _You know, I like to sculpt. And I recently made a trident- would you like to check it out? _He thinks of Annie, sitting alone, waiting for him, but he pushes her image aside for now, substituting it with a few hours of simple pleasure before the guilt sinks in again.

**twenty five, shadow**

He always knows when it's about to happen, because a shadow passes over her face and he knows he needs to be on the defensive. She's fast, but he's faster- he catches her wrist and squeezes until she drops the knife. _I'm not the bad guy, Annie, _he always tells her. He knows he has to do it, but every time he sees the bruises on her wrist he thinks it might just be easier if he lets her stab him.

**twenty six, goodbye**

He's determined not to let her go. He holds her as close as possible, pleading her to come back to him, to do whatever she has to do to win. Calmly she takes his face between her hands and places kisses on his eyelids, nose, and finally his lips. _Goodbye, Finnick._

**twenty seven, hide**

He wonders if the Gamemakers are going to accept her victory when all she really did was hide the entire time. But maybe they take pity on her because it's accepted, and he thinks that's probably the first time anyone won the Hunger Games by hiding.

**twenty eight, fortune**

_Woah. _They were better off in District 4 than a lot of the other districts, but still, this was _a lot _of food. And this was a _huge _house. _This is beautiful, _Annie breathes, and he isn't sure what exactly she's talking about, since it's all beautiful. He smiles. _Help yourself, _he says, because what's the use in all of this if he can't share his fortune?

**twenty nine, safe**

Everyone has been touching and hugging him, congratulating him. Mags squeezes him tighter than he thought possible for such an old woman. But it isn't until her arms wrap firmly around his neck that he feels truly safe, that he knows he's not in the arena anymore and nobody is trying to kill him.

**thirty, ghost**

_Please, _she whispers, her voice cracking. _They're going to kill me. Help me, please. _He doesn't know who it is that's chasing her, who she needs protecting from, but he'll protect her from anything, even if it's simply from her own ghosts.

**thirty one, book**

When he opened his present, his face dropped a fraction of an inch. _Oh! _He faked enthusiasm. _You got me a book! _It wasn't that he was ungrateful, but Finnick didn't really _read _that much. Annie just smiled. _Open it, Finnick. _He did, and when he opened it, he saw that the inside as hollow. Tucked inside was a golden sea shell on a chain. _Everybody always gives you tridents. But this is where you came from. _He smiled and kissed her on her forehead. _I love it. Thank you._

**thirty two, eye**

She looks so different. Not at all like Annie. She's thinner, her cheeks are sunken. She looks smaller. But that isn't the worst part. The worst part is her eyes. Because as she stares at him, there's not flicker of recognition at all. She doesn't know him.

**thirty three, never**

When he gets back, she doesn't leave his side. It might have been annoying, a twelve year old girl following him around, but he took great comfort in her constant presence. _You're never gonna leave again, are you? _She asks, and he shakes his head. _Never. _

**thirty four, sing**

Sometimes he looks at Katniss's pin and imagines the song of the mockingjay. He closes his eyes and imagines its voice. It always sounds like Annie.

**thirty five, sudden**

It's when he comes back from the Games when it starts. He has all the woman he could ever want hanging off of him, but suddenly, when he's talking to a woman with what looks like actual flowers embedded under her skin, that he realizes he'd rather be with Annie than her.

**thirty six, stop**

When Peeta Mellark's heart stops, he rushes to save him. Not because of the Rebellion. Not because they need Peeta for Katniss. But because he can't bear to watch Katniss fall apart in front of him. And when he hears his heart beat once again in his chest, he thinks there might be hope for them, even now.

**thirty seven, time**

The arena is a clock, but he doesn't care. The only time that matters to him is the countdown, which will inevitably lead to either his death or being reunited with Annie. Whichever it is, he urges it to get there faster.

**thirty eight, wash**

The shower in his new victory house is good for a lot of things, but one time Annie comes over and shows him just how useful it can really be.

**thirty nine, torn**

_Like how they'll use Annie for bait, Finnick? _Katniss says and he's torn between ripping her throat out- mockingjay or not- and crying, so instead he starts to weep and says, _I wish she was dead, _and he knows without a doubt that this is true. Everything would be better.

**forty, history **

Him and Annie used to joke that they would run away and live in District 13, make a life around the rubble. Then suddenly he's told that every history class he had sat through was a lie and District 13 still exists. He wonders if he'll ever see Annie again to tell her.

**forty one, power**

Both he and Johanna resent the Capitol and the power they have over them- so they come together briefly in their own act of rebellion, and he tries not to think of Annie (something he doesn't know how to do).

**forty two, bother**

Eyes follow him wherever he goes, seeking him out, making suggestive comments. He ignores them. What _really _bothers him is when eyes start following _Annie, _too. The glares he gives these people are so fierce they look away almost immediately.

**forty three, God**

He doesn't believe in any sort of higher power- what kind of God would let the world get to this point? But as the camera's follow Annie through the arena, he begins to pray fervently, begging somebody, _anybody, _to bring her home.

**forty four, wall**

For a while after she comes home he won't talk to her. It isn't as if she'll miss him. But he lies in bed just thinking of her, and after a while he goes to see her. _Hi Annie, I'm Finnick._

**forty five, naked**

He's seen Annie naked before, but this is different. This is different because there is no awkward fumbling or kisses, and he doesn't get to kiss every part of her body as her nails dig into his back. This time she hasn't gotten out of bed in days and he gently removes her clothes and washes her as she cries- Annie cries a lot. Her body is thin and scarred, because the Capitol didn't bother to fix her, she was so far gone. Just another reason to resent them.

**forty six, drive**

He hugs her, holding onto her for as long as she'll let him. He doesn't say what he wants to- _I love you, _because he has no clue how she'll take it. Instead he holds her close to his body and then he and Mags board the train for another long drive to the Capitol.

**forty seven, harm**

When he walks in the house he knows something is wrong- the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and he sprints to her bedroom. She's standing in the middle of the room with a bloodied knife in one hand- her arm is bleeding profusely. She stares at him with frightened eyes. _I had to get the chip out. _

**forty eight, precious**

_Here, Finnick. To remember me by. _He can't remember the woman's name anymore, only that she was beautiful and had been on top. Her gift had been a stuffed bear, as if he had any use at all for a teddy bear. Instead he gives it to Annie, who holds it tight to her body and grins up at him so widely he takes a forty five minute shower, trying to get the woman off of him.

**forty nine, hunger**

He's known what it's like to be hungry, even if he was better off than most of the others. But it's a totally different type of hunger as he watches Annie, because no matter how close he gets to her, it will never be as close as it used to be, as close as he needs.

**fifty, believe**

He likes to believe he'll be back. That they can change the world and overthrow the Capitol, that he'll be reunited with her and can protect her once again. But he knows that he'll die in this rebellion, and so as Katniss stares at the ceiling and mourns Peeta he cries and mourns Annie, because the Capitol has already murdered her mind- there's not much worse they can do.


End file.
